Agile2018

Abstract:
Getting new teams to work together is hard. Really. Hard.
Is it because there is so much hype around new Agile teams? Or is it because there is such a focus on “doing things right” (or “doing” Agile right), that we forget about the people actually doing the work? Regardless of the reason, before we can change the way people work... we need to focus on the things that are important for teamwork to work!
We believe that the key to high-performance teams is creating an intentional culture that respects and embraces diversity - whether it be race, gender, class, culture, age, beliefs, language, skills or background. So join us as we explore the Team Canvas – sort of like a Business Model Canvas for teamwork - covering nine essential teamwork elements:

• Purpose - Why we are doing what we are doing?
• People & Roles - What are our names, roles and responsibilities?
• Common goals - What do we as a group want to achieve together?
• Personal goals - What do I as an individual want to achieve?
• Team values - What do we really stand for and believe in?
• Needs and expectations - What do each of us need to be successful in a diverse team?
• Rules & Activities - How do we communicate and keep everyone up to date?
• Strengths & Assets - What skills do we have in the team?
• Weaknesses & Risks - What are the weaknesses we have, as an individual and as a team?

We will walk through our agenda for team lift-offs, facilitation posters and preparation work required, materials needed, and facilitation tips and tricks. All packaged in a handy pocket guide, that you can use to explore tried and tested techniques for each essential element. We will also have an opportunity to practice some of these techniques during the session.
Get ready to lift-off your team in T-minus 10... 9... 8...

Learning Outcomes:

• Learn facilitation techniques that will instantly help you in your role as a facilitator or Scrum Master.
• Stop unproductive team conflict before it starts, by discussing things that matter to the team BEFORE they start working together.
• Get everyone on to the same page. Fast!
• Understand the essential elements to make teamwork work.
• How to use the Team Canvas to create an intentional team culture that respects and embraces diversity.

Attachments:

• T minus 10 9 8 We have lift off Agile 2018.pdf
• Agile 2018 T minus 10 9 8 booklet.pdf

Abstract:
Although Agile principles and prominent frameworks advocate co-location, the realities of today's global business world often do not enable co-located teams. It would be a shame for organizations and teams to miss out on the power of Agility because of geographic circumstances. In many cases, organizations weigh the pros and cons of co-location vs. remote vs. blended configurations and determine that remote teams win the argument. ICAgile went through a similar dilemma earlier in its existence and chose the distributed model. Despite its challenges, it has brought us talent and an ability to interact with our global customers that a central office would not allow.
In this interactive session Shannon and Shane discuss their experiences working in a highly diverse, distributed, virtual organization which is founded on an Agile Mindset. The challenges of maintaining agility when remote, the ways the ICAgile team have consciously designed their team and organization culture and provide actionable advice based on real experience on how to maintain collaboration, teamwork and live the agile values in a remote only organization.
ICAgile is a global, virtual organization working with partners and members across over 100 countries spanning almost every timezone. The ICAgile team is spread across seven locations in three countries. We are a very diverse team with many different perspectives and viewpoints and have managed to build a strong collaborative culture and a truly safe working environment focused on outcomes rather than activities, holding each other to account and being really effective and productive while having a joyful workplace.

Learning Outcomes:

• Contrast the pros and cons of working in distributed, co-located, or blended Agile teams.
• Mindfully apply agile practices and tools that enhance collaboration and value-delivery for remote agile teams.
• After seeing how one organization overcame the challenges of distribution to create a truly collaborative, agile culture, analogize some of these wins to their own context.
• Identify and apply some of the key capabilities organizations need in order to succeed with remote teams (e.g. virtual facilitation skills).
• Takeaway some additional resources to explore in their own context
• Have some fun while learning

Attachments:

• Being Agile in a Remote Team.pdf

Abstract:
Creating an environment where teams thrive and perform can be challenging; the composition of the team may be off, communication tools get in the way and employee engagement scores across the industry are at historic lows. The good news is that there is science available to guide change leaders in increasing the chances of helping - rather than harming - teams towards high performance and finding inspiration in work. In this talk, one of the authors of the Harvard-published Team Emotional Intelligence (TEI) concept and an enterprise transformation coach with experience from Nokia, Intel, McAfee and Statoil explains the science behind TEI and Inspired Teams, detail the tangible business benefits that result from finding inspiration in work and provides practical guidance on how to get there.
We'll walk through use cases and illustrate how teams can achieve extraordinary results by building the competencies of Inspired Teams. At the end of this session, participants will understand how change leaders can create an environment where their teams can transcend high performance and become innovative and Inspired.

Learning Outcomes:

• - Understand the science behind Team Emotional Intelligence and Inspired Teams
• - Identify the business impact of investing in creating a team environment conducive to performance
• - Learn how to quantify the economic difference of high performing teams vs average teams
• - Appreciate the subtle, yet critical "soft" factors affecting team relationships in a dynamic workplace
• - Identify the four conditions essential to team performance and how to foster these in your own organization

Attachments:

• Inspired Teams_hesselberg_wolff.pdf

Abstract:
Have you been on a team where some fear conflict and see it as something to avoid? Perhaps a team member is unresponsive to e-mail requests. Maybe someone refuses to ask a teammate for help. It could be that people simply avoid each other. The danger is that the conflict festers under the surface and then bubbles up in unexpected ways. Conflict under the surface is disruptive. It fractures a team as people choose sides and try to build up their forces. It fosters competition, distrust, poor communication, and low productivity. What can you do to revert the huge cost acquired by conflict avoidance/ignorance that may result in turnover, absenteeism, stress related health problems?
Engaging in conflict doesn't have to be negative or counterproductive. In fact, it can be positive. In this high energy hands-on workshop, Pradeepa Narayanaswamy will take the attendees through various conflict resolution games that helps reveal real conflict along with emotions, personalities, misunderstandings, and reactions in a safe environment. The games will help the team become aware of and practice the characteristics & skills necessary to resolve or transform conflict. The audience will play games that helps build trust, improve emotional intelligence, enhance verbal and nonverbal communication, challenge assumptions, and appreciate diversity.
Use these games to empower your teams to search for collaborative solutions in conflict situations. Use these games to allow teams to experience the result of effectively transforming conflict into collaboration. Use these games to take your team from a group of individuals to a high-performing team.

Learning Outcomes:

• Attendees will
• Learn various simple games to experience the conflict process in a fun, supportive environment that enables their team to create effective strategies and practice the skills necessary to resolve conflict.
• Understand how the games can help build morale in their teams by providing context, taking control of the learning and making it fun & energetic.
• Discover how the conflict resolution games can help team members learn to trust each other as they provide opportunities for sharing insights, emotions and experiences while developing solutions.

Attachments:

• Agile 2018 - A Close-up with Conflict slides - Pradeepa .pdf

Abstract:
Many organizations flatten management structure when they transform to agile. It soon becomes obvious that important activities done by managers are still needed. A community can fill these gaps. They can provide morale, governance, learning and mentorship, recruiting and hiring, mutual support, coordination, sharing, innovation and more!
Unfortunately few companies manage to create a strong communities. Even fewer empower their communities to fill these gaps. This means they are missing the ultimate benefit of communities: strong, empowered communities can transform the organization itself!
Join Shahin and Shawn in this interactive session to explore communities in organizations. Examine the benefits of building great communities. Learn how to spark the community, and how to support it as it evolves. Hear stories of communities empowered to improve the organization. Learn how to make a community into a driver of positive change.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understanding of the power and influence of community
• Patterns for starting, building, supporting, and evolving a community
• Tools to create greater organizational community out of smaller discipline-focused communities
• Understanding how communities can drive positive changes

Attachments:

• Community-Driven Change - V3 Public.pdf

Abstract:
When we’re feeling stressed, threatened, or unsafe, our bodies help us do a lot of things better. We’re able to run faster, hit harder, yell louder. We are able to notice the slightest movement out of the corner of our eye.
Things we do not do better: think creatively, work collaboratively, solve problems.
These are very human activities, and they work best in a very human environment. Our movement is coming to realize that feeling free to express ideas, questions, joys and concerns without fear of rejection or judgment is vital for agile collaboration.
But even though we say "without fear of judgment", we don't do a lot of talking about how to actually get there. And it's hard!
Here's the hard part: we not only need psychological safety for ourselves, but we're a source of safety for our teammates. We all get scared, and we all have the power to ease each other's fears. Let's explore together what it takes to cultivate psychological safety for yourself and your team, and what gets in the way.

Learning Outcomes:

• How to practice empathy and non-judgment
• Three factors that contribute to psychological safety
• How to lead a team towards safety when it's not your (or their!) primary job
• How to find fondness for folks who irritate you, so that you can engage with them without setting off their 'unsafe' sensors
• What leadership can do to encourage a culture of psychological safety

Attachments:

• agile2018-psychological-safety.pdf

Abstract:
You know your role as an Agile Coach is to facilitate agile practices, foster collaboration, support self-organized teams, identify common objectives, AND do so while maintaining a balance between the team and the individual. That can be quite a tricky accomplishment!
But truly how do you focus on the whole while not abandoning the individual? How do you tap into the whole team to better shepherd the process?
In this immersive, interactive session, you will experience four ways to identify and to tap into the, often invisible, culture of the team in real time. You will also learn how teams can use this information to help themselves make decisions, provide safe places for marginalized voices to be heard, implement course corrections, and make progress.

Learning Outcomes:

• Learn a model for thinking about groups of people/teams as a “system” to foster psychological safety and collaboration.
• Experience at least 4 tools to access ‘hidden’ perspectives to access the culture of the team in real time.
• Identify at least one tool or concept to take ‘back home’.

Abstract:
Traditional organizational structures are ill-equipped to deal with volatility and scarce resources. Similarly disadvantaged youth have to deal with volatility and scarce resources in their lives. What if there was a similar process that could teach street youth and organizations in a lean agile way? Caitlin Walker will share how she taught disadvantaged youth a simple method to inquire about their own and one another's resourcefulness until they could collaborate and succeed. She'll show how the skills of exquisite attention and high curiosity can benefit agile teams and culture change.
Clean Language is a very simple set of questions that can give a person and a group that vital sense of autonomy and self-awareness. Done well in a group the network of interactions and shared mental models means fewer silos and assumptions and greater resilience! Alternating between real life examples and playful practice - we'll get you using clean language questions and jazzed about the potential for companies taking on the Clean way of working.

Learning Outcomes:

• Participants will learn a new way of listening, asking with curiosity.
• Participants will come away with new information about themselves, as a result of peer-coaching using Clean Questions.
• They'll have a new appreciation for each other's individual experiences, often expressed unconsciously through metaphor.
• They'll experience that 'attending to' and 'extending from' another person's words creates new possibilities.
• They'll learn that harvesting the wisdom already inherent in the room (or system, or person) is best done, when one's own mind is quiet and focussed on others.

Attachments:

• AgileAlliance2018.pdf

Abstract:
“I know nothing.”
“I am an impostor.”
Have you ever had these thoughts? Have you wondered why? Would you like to reduce the frequency of those thoughts in yourself, your colleagues and people who are yet to even consider joining your profession?
Have you ever heard people say anything like this:
“Can you believe, I just interviewed this dev, and they didn’t even know what a Z was?”
Over my 18-year software career, I have heard this kind of thing countless times. It is said derisively, scornfully, impatiently. And every time those words are said, we lose both existing and potential members of our profession. We lose them because they feel stupid; because they believe they can’t keep up; because they’re terrified that people are saying the same about them. Or we don’t lose them, but they increase the amount of jargon they use, to prove how clever they are. Their colleagues struggle to understand them, but they pretend they understand, to avoid looking stupid… and so on.
If somebody already feels like they don't "fit in", then this kind of pressure and insecurity can be the final shove that persuades them to leave the profession or not try and join in the first place. Under-represented groups are particularly impacted by this intellectual elitism. Indeed ALL software professionals are impacted.
This is a passionate talk. It's a topic I feel strongly about. It's a topic with strong personal resonance. I want to help you build strong, capable, diverse, multi-functional teams that can happily embrace any challenge. To do this, we need to nurture our teams by building confidence and eradicating insecurity. This is a talk full of practical examples and suggestions of how you can keep en eye out for insecurities in your colleagues, and do everything you can to avoid them being deepened.
We know that everybody has knowledge gaps. There are thousands of different paths through software development, touching thousands of different combinations of technologies and skills. On a day-to-day level we have to specialise on one task at a time. The skills we don’t need right now are necessarily forgotten, or delegated to someone else. And that’s fine.
Let’s stop making people feel stupid. Instead of judging people for their ignorance, let’s help them to feel excited about all the new things they’ll discover. Instead of saying “For God’s sake, you don’t know that?” let’s say “Fantastic! Lucky you. You get to learn something. What can I do to help?”

Learning Outcomes:

• Know how to nurture your colleagues and build their confidence
• Understand the vicious cycle of entrenched insecurities
• Understand what makes people feel insecure, and what impact that has on both teams and individuals
• Know how to recognise the difference between "They don't know what I know" and "They don't know anything useful".

Attachments:

• CSudbery_Agile2018_Lets-Not-Make-People-Feel-Stupid_ForUpload.pdf

Abstract:
Co-creating drawings helps teams enhance their systems thinking abilities by really seeing the big picture. A group of people talking around a whiteboard is an effective way to share ideas across a team. Imagine how much richer the conversation is when everyone on the team has a marker in their hand and is actively contributing! Graphic visualization is an important tool for talking about new ideas, generating insights and developing shared understanding. In a team context, drawing is a thinking tool rather than an artistic endeavour. When everyone participates in creating drawings, all team members can see how things fit together and what mental models are at play in defining the situation. And, by drawing together, the team is collaboratively creating meaningful records that are being validated and updated.
Join Ellen and Sue for a visual adventure into how teams can collaboratively visualize ideas and make sure that everyone at the table has a voice. In this workshop, we will warm up with some basic doodling skills practice. No drawing experience is required to take part in this session: if you can hold a marker, we can teach you the skills needed to put your ideas on paper. Together we'll consider the ways that collaborative drawing can be used to enhance group work, and we will share practical activities that you can take back to use with your team for setting the stage, gathering information, and sharing stories.

Learning Outcomes:

• Participants will be able to:
• explain how collaborative drawing can be used to facilitate team discussions and enhance group work
• build (and teach) simple doodling skills to encourage everyone to participate in collaborative drawing
• faciltate a practical collaborative visualization exercise with your team

Abstract:
Agile is part of an evolution in consciousness--in the nature of our awareness and noticing skills and our knowledge of self and other. When agile emerges in an organization, it does so within a consciousness unlike its own. Yet, our approaches to agility often impede its ability to stick where it emerges.
Agilists have used the frames of mindset and learning. But, we need to use the frames of consciousness and development in order to truly transform. In doing so, we see agile transformations are actually personal transformations. Organizations don't change, people change and then the organization adapts.
This deep dive session discusses the agile mindset and puts “mindset” in the context of “consciousness.” It speaks to advancing agilists who are trying to understand why adoptions go wrong when they have done everything "right." You are more likely to receive full value in this session if you have have been pursuing agility within organisations for at least three years.
This session provides pointers on how to spot developmental as opposed to lower level learning experiences. It is based on my own practice, on research I did for my master’s thesis, and on my book The Preservation of the Agile Heart: From Mindset to Consciousness.

Learning Outcomes:

• Be able to articulate a working definition of consciousness
• Understand the difference between mindset and consciousness
• Understand how consciousness and human development align
• Understand the difference between learning and development
• Be able to spot learning opportunities that do not facilitate development
• Be able to create opportunities for personal development and self-care in the context of development

Attachments:

• From Mindset to Consciousness Playing the Infinite Game of Human Development.pdf

Abstract:
We've all had connections that are very easy to establish and maintain. For example, at a conference or meet up we easily find others that we have things in common with and form a minimum viable relationship quickly. But on teams, when relationships actually need to be formed quickly, it seems to be a lot harder to do so. Why is trust so fickle and why can't teams come together and achieve high performance earlier?
Natalie and Jenny will discuss the characteristics of a minimum viable relationship where trust and connection are formed quickly. They will align ideas of bias, psychological safety, and how they relate to the Tuckman model (stages of group development) and other group dynamic and cohesion theories. Participants will experience activities of how to replicate early success and trust-based performance on new and long-formed teams. The minimum viable relationship will bring teams closer together and help them to see each other as equals on the path to team conversion and success.

Learning Outcomes:

• Increase team trust by truly learning about ourselves and how to better connect with others more quickly
• Understand how groups form and deterrents to their successful formation
• Discover why you may be a hindrance to an MVR and learn strategies to course correct

Abstract:
Have you found new team members take months getting up to speed with the rest of the team? Do you wonder about their engagement and happiness in a new place of work? Do newly hired people lack interest in the organization’s mission?
Many agile organizations struggle with these questions. Perhaps we’re still getting people off on the wrong foot with some details of our hiring and onboarding practices. These often overlooked, easily forgotten practices have a big impact on engagement and culture. Your hiring process can catalyze excitement for the company mission. Agile-appropriate onboarding quickly harmonizes the team and quickly returns them to productivity.
This talk for team members, managers, and change agents examines the positive impact hiring and onboarding practices can have on agile transformation. Using real world examples from successful agile companies, the session shares a mixture of new principles and practices audience members can experiment with. Additionally, the content is wrapped in systems thinking to increase knowledge for organizational change.

Learning Outcomes:

• Recognize how agile helps us transform hiring and onboarding.
• Formulate hiring and/or onboarding practices that increase engagement.
• Identify useful principles for getting new team members to a productive place quickly.
• Explain practices which create inclusion, excitement, and satisfaction when bringing new people into an organization.

Attachments:

• [DOWNLOAD COPY] The Positive Impact of a Great Agile First Impression.pdf

Abstract:
The single most important indicator of team performance is health and well-being. A strong constitution is necessary for teams to overcome adversity, maintain resilience and nurture a culture rich in collaboration.
A lot of organizations measure how their teams are doing via KPI’s; ROV’s, NPS, and gasp, velocity. Far too often the metrics used are lagging indicators. By the time things have gone off the rails, it’s too late and the damage has been done. The good news is that health and well-being are leading indicators.
However, without some magic pixie dust, you just can’t make people happy.
The good news is that you can experiment and create the conditions that are conducive to team well-being.
A logical question then is: can you measure and visualize the results of your "happiness" experiments and organizational initiatives?
Attend this presentation to find out....

Learning Outcomes:

• You'll walk away with a toolkit of options to help you visualize your teams' health and well-being.
• And the next day, you'll be able to start gathering useful data to gain feedback loops on your experiments.
• You'll also develop an understanding of who team health metrics are really for, as well as antipatterns (Hint: Happiness is NOT the target)

Attachments:

• Team Health and Wellbeing v9 Agile2018.pdf
• Team Health Handout Ideas for Resilience Visualization Tools v3.pdf
• Cognitive Biases Cheat Sheet.pdf
• Integral Quadrants Avery 5388 Index Cards v2.pdf

Abstract:
Imagine you are a Mad Agile Scientist and have a diabolical experiment to conduct - what would happen if you exchanged the brains of a Product Owner and Scrum Master? Mwuhahahaha!!! How would the body of a Product Owner with the brain of a Scrum Master act? And vice versa?
Perhaps the Scrum Master would now treat the team like a backlog? This Scrum Master would be focused on value and maintaining a coaching backlog of team and person improvements. This Scrum Master is refining the team, crafting a group that delivers value.
And perhaps the Product Owner might treat the backlog like a team? Rather than backlog refining, they coach the backlog. They would be focused on nurturing, protecting, and empowering the backlog. The backlog might transform from an irritation into a labor of love.
Although this experiment sounds terrible, this change of perspective might be what you need to reanimate your dead team or backlog.
Join the fun and come learn what horrifying results await!

Learning Outcomes:

• Product Owners will learn that they should love their backlogs. This shift in attitude and how they view their work can transform their tedious backlog maintenance into a labor of love. For example, a PO may change the meeting title from "Backlog Refining" to "Backlog Coaching".
• Scrum Masters will learn that it's OK to push the team to grow. This change in perspective will empower the Scrum Master to focus on value and encouraging the best they can get from their team. For example, a Scrum Master may deploy backlogs targeted to improving skills of team members.
• All attendees will be introduced to the concept that traditional role paradigms can be shifted.

Attachments:

• Brain Transplant.pdf

Abstract:
Less than 30% of staff at Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Intel, Microsoft and Twitter are women. Less than 5% are Black or Hispanic. Consider though, what proportion of the users of these companies' products are women, Black or Hispanic?
Perhaps it would help to have those voices better represented on the teams that are developing these products?
Perhaps having more diversity on our teams would also help us come up with solutions to the complex problems we face?
In far too many organisations, a lack of diversity allows a culture to develop that is hostile to women, People of Colour and other minorities. Hiring for diversity in tech leadership roles continues to be a problem. You’ll sometimes hear hiring managers say “if women or People of Colour don’t apply, what can we do?”.
This is an interactive session in which we will collaboratively explore various aspects of diversity, discuss some of the issues and challenges we face as well as what we can do about it.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand why diversity and inclusion matters
• Understand what you can do to improve diversity and inclusion
• Relevant metrics to make diversity and inclusion issues more visible
• Explore what you can do as hiring managers
• The role of culture in diversity and inclusion
• How to create a safe environment

Abstract:
As the tech giant Google says "Not every picture tells the whole story....Question Your Lens"
Diversity is the super power that can make our teams stronger. In fact, because of our varied lenses, we need each other to see the whole picture of anything, whether its a body of work that needs to be done or a task to complete.
When we don't appreciate, support and uplift this diversity, conflict can happen. When conflict starts, people start to focus on everything but their goal. They focus on each other in a negative way. They focus on what’s wrong, and anything else...while their take their off the end game.
So - we're here to do just that, "question our lens". Agile is based on a set of values and principles that, when applied, affect not just the work we do but the environment in which we work. Working with teams and organizations requires us to keep an eye on the tenor of interactions, the level of engagement, and modes of communication. These are some of the nuances of facilitating positive outcomes with diverse teams.
In this session we'll look at the values and principles of Agile and Scrum and see how diversity plays a role in they way our teams experience them. This session is intended for practicing scrum masters, agile leaders, facilitators, product owners and coaches because its when you’re practicing and in the mix of things; that you start to pay attention, or not, to the subtle elements of team dynamics.

Learning Outcomes:

• Define important aspects of diversity
• Identify how different diversity styles can impact somoene’s Interpretation of a principle or value.
• Evaluate ways to leverage and celebrate diversity on Agile teams.

Abstract:
What characteristics does the ideal agile team member possess? How would the needs of the future workforce be addressed if those needs aren’t understood and solved for? My experience of integrating new talent into functioning agile teams has lead me to one, surprising, realisation: Most of the approaches and practices that were used to build organisational teams aren’t working anymore. The tried and tested approaches to team formation and leadership are showing little progress into understanding the mindset of the future workforce. We need radical thinking and action in order to reinvent the way we enable people to communicate, collaborate, and ultimately win as a team. It is up to leaders to mould the culture of organisations to ensure that the future workforce is primed and focused to deliver their best work.
This session focuses on some of the challenges that present themselves when integrating the future workforce into an agile organisation or team. Ultimately, every organisation that is concerned with future proofing their existence must be focused on building teams of motivated individuals that can build the products and services of the future without the constraints we recognise today.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand some of the needs emerging for the future of work, in particular, understanding of 'team', 'purpose', 'impact' and 'us'.
• Understand how those in leadership have to adapt to new culture, processes, and tools.
• Understand what needs to change in agile organisations to support the future workforce.

Attachments:

• NF1_Hacking the workforce of the future_6August2018_Final.pdf

Abstract:
Many of the positive changes we will make with our teams will start with one person's insight. Don't leave that inspiration to chance. Set yourself up to make that insight more likely and learn what to do when you have it that will help you help your team grow.
It all begins with ourselves. More than we would like to believe, people tend to seek stability. How do we create the right environment within ourselves to be open to change, to realize there is room for improvement? How do we do this in a way that our primitive brain doesn't find threatening? In order to become the catalyst, we first need to create an environment in which we can do the same thing to ourselves. That is much harder than it sounds. Being able to do so requires the right mindset, but how do you develop it? How do you recognize that it is needed? How do you open yourself up to change, embrace it, and incorporate experimentation into your own practice?
Having insight is not enough. While an insight might start with one person, change is a team activity. Once you recognize an opportunity, how do you share your insight with your team in a way that will be embraced instead of rejected? Do you understand the biases and fears that might cause resistance to your idea? Just as importantly, how do you time your proposals so that they have the highest likelihood of success?
In this talk, I will talk about 6 things that are necessary for you to do to create the conditions where change is possible. I'll share anecdotes from my own experience promoting change within startups, agencies, and big companies. Drawn from diverse sources, such as BJ Fogg, Carol Dweck, Jocko Willink, and Ray Dalio, these 6 characteristics will help you effect change effectively.

Learning Outcomes:

• A framework for questioning the status quo
• Specific techniques to open us up to change
• Strategies for timing change initiatives

Abstract:
If you work in a traditional organization, most likely than not, your teams would be created by the management. Just because "we've always done it this way", it doesn't mean we can't experiment with the alternatives. Join this workshop to experience a round of self-selection - a better way of building high-performing teams!
Originally described by Sandy Mamoli and David Mole, a self-selection is a facilitated process during which people can exercise their freedom of choice. They can self-select a new product to work on and new teammates to work with. A dream come true or a nightmare?
As exciting as it may sound to some, the idea of self-selection may cause others to experience all sorts of fears: fear of missing out, fear of not being selected, fear of picking a wrong team...
Don't let your teams be paralyzed by fears ! Get management buy-in, reduce your teams' discomfort and enable self-selection run in your organization by introducing it with this workshop. Join in to learn, play simulation games and experience autonomy in action!

Learning Outcomes:

• Explain five steps to prepare and three steps to run the self-selection.
• Describe at least one way of lowering discomfort and overcoming fear in preparation for self-selection event.
• Summarize the practical experience gained from participating in self-selection simulation.

Attachments:

• Self_SelectionGame_DanaPylayevaAgile2018.pdf

Abstract:
Exceptional restaurants are built on a team spirit of collaboration, experimentation, and extreme customer focus; which makes them Agile. Surprising, right? 
I've been observing how the teams from the best places where you can eat run their businesses. I’ve been visiting many Michelin star restaurants and other exceptionally rated places across the world to see how they work, how they collaborate and to try to understand what makes them so exceptional. They all are built around exceptional teams that focus on collaboration and cross-functionality. They experiment and invest in the growth of their people. There are similarities on how we work as Agile teams and how these teams work in the best restaurants in the world. We can learn a lot from those teams.
This session will introduce you to what it takes to work in a high-performing environment of a Michelin star rated restaurant and other exceptionally rated places across the world without requiring you to travel, wait until late night to get a reservation and last but not the least paying for the bill. I can’t share the taste of the food, but I can share my observations, photos, videos and insights from the people I’ve been speaking with. The food is always awesome, but the way these places work is often even more exciting. I believe that there are some things that these teams do well that you can use in your non-restaurant workplace.

Learning Outcomes:

• get inspired how great teams work in a different environment then SW
• see that collaboration is the key to build high-performing teams
• experience the true customer centric environment
• get a feeling how different it can be if you put excellence and perfection as the key value

Attachments:

• Chef's team.pdf

Abstract:
The world of Agile is rooted in the value of "people and interactions" and in our conversations we implicitly value the power of "yes." Yes to iterating. Yes to change. Yes to our stakeholders, customers, and leaders. The idea of a culture rooted in "Yes" feels naturally agile. AND sometimes what is most needed is a graceful, agile "no."
Often, an automatic "yes" culture leads to bloated backlogs, missed commitments, and a reduced transparency and trust between our teams and their stakeholders. Join us in this interactive workshop to explore the power of "No." When should it be "No, not now?" When should it be "No, not ever?" Can "No" be more than just a dangerous career-limiting move? How can we open a conversation that could lead to a "No" and coach a stakeholder to receive and interpret a "No?" This is one session you should definitely say "YES" to!

Learning Outcomes:

• Proactively identify situations where saying “no” will be a challenge
• Describe the business and human impact of not saying “no” when it is needed
• Identify obstacles that impede effective conversations that might lead to a “no”
• Practice 7 pragmatic steps to effective conversations that could lead to “no”
• Understand and apply “No - not now” versus “No - not ever”
• Collaborate with stakeholders and customers in transparent, courageous conversations to receive and work with “no”

Attachments:

• Slides_Say Yes2NO_Agile2018.pdf

Abstract:
Do your coders shy away from testing? Are your leaders or teams struggling to embrace the concept of “T-shaped” individuals? Would you like to demonstrate the impact of collaboration with evidence, and have fun along the way?
What many teams initially think collaboration is, really amounts to cooperation: that is, doing a little more if there’s time left in an iteration. This hands on workshop will demonstrate the outcomes possible when teams shift fully into collaboration. Through 3 sprints of a simulated product development, participants will get a tangible feel for the differences between coordination, cooperation and deeper cross functional collaboration. They’ll see where bottlenecks really exist when team members stick to their competency AND the impact when they focus instead on the shared goal or outcome. We’ll explore what’s holding back collaboration in our own work teams, and what changes teams can make to foster greater collaboration and higher performance.
This workshop is aimed at Change Agents, Coaches, Scrum Masters and Managers who want to engage their teams to realize the benefits of true collaboration. Additionally, Product Owners and Executives will find the data generated through the exercises beneficial and compelling when faced with stakeholders or teams skeptical of or resistant to collaborate fully and embrace cross functional team work.
Want to help your organization shift from "busy bees" and into a resilient "hive mind" of shared progress and achievement? Come see first hand the impact of collaboration towards a shared goal, and get a sense of how you can Harness your Hive towards higher performance, interactivity and fun.

Learning Outcomes:

• Discover structural and behavioral bottlenecks to collaboration
• Demonstrate the impact of differences between coordination, cooperation, and true collaboration
• Distinguish what your own work teams could start, stop or change to shift towards greater collaboration
• Choose and share at least one idea from the workshop experience which you'll apply in your "real world" beyond the conference

Attachments:

• HarnessTheHive_AA2018.pdf

Abstract:
This session provides a creative look at collaboration and teamwork through the lens of a live professional jazz combo. During the session, we will alternate between live performance and discussions with the musicians about how they approach collaboration, communication, listening, mastery, tradition vs. exploration, and the boundaries between art and business. If you're in the mood to hear some great music from one of San Diego's best jazz groups, while exploring master level collaboration, come on by! You're sure to see Agile from a fresh perspective!

Learning Outcomes:

• *Apply the self-organization patterns that a jazz combo uses to agile teams
• *Understand the critical role of collaboration in innovation and creativity
• * HEAR the vast difference between a minimal framework on its own, and a custom adaptation of that framework
• *Tap your toes to a swinging beat
• *Connect to deeply to their own human soulfulness